Breast screening: we want your views on new mammography apprenticeship

PHE Screening has been involved in a new initiative to develop an apprenticeship route for women to enter the mammography profession.

The apprenticeship is for the new role of ‘associate mammographer’, which we hope will encourage many to enter the profession and address the national shortage of mammographers.

PHE has been involved in the new Mammography Associate Trailblazer Group, which also includes representatives from employers, the Society and College of Radiographers, academic institutions, Health Education England and Skills for Health.

To get approval for the apprenticeship, the group has opened a consultation on a draft apprenticeship standard for mammography associates.

We are seeking your views on this draft standard and want to give everyone involved in breast screening the chance to contribute.

Please take part in the consultation by completing the online survey. The consultation will close on 8 January.

The survey should take around 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Next steps

The trailblazer group will review all the feedback following the closing date and consider where amendments should be made. It will then submit the standard to the Institute for Apprenticeships for approval.

The final step will be to develop the apprenticeship end point assessment (EPA) plan. Apprenticeship standards must have an EPA to test an apprentice’s competence against the apprenticeships standard. This includes the knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary for the role. Apprentices complete the EPA at the end of the apprenticeship after finishing all on-programme learning and meeting any gateway requirements.

The introduction of an apprenticeship route will mean that our 4-tier workforce may shortly evolve to become 5 valued tiers, so that mammography becomes a career that allows opportunities to practice from associate to consultant practitioner levels.

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